Chinese restaurant syndrome

English

Etymology

Coined by Robert Ho Man Kwok in a 1968 letter to the New England Journal of Medicine.

Noun

Chinese restaurant syndrome (uncountable)

1. A syndrome associated with consumption of the westernized version of Chinese food, characterized by various symptoms such as burning and tingling sensations, rapid heartbeat, and drowsiness, and tentatively ascribed to monosodium glutamate in the food.

Synonyms

• Chinese food syndrome
• CRS (abbreviation)

Hypernyms

• monosodium glutamate symptom complex